Posted
Monday, June 08, 2009
There’s a quandary in the diet world. Evidence shows that a low-carb, high protein diet, aka Atkins, does work for weight loss, but, on the other hand, a high meat/milk intake fails to lower bad ‘LDL’ cholesterol and is associated with increased cancer risk. But what happens if you eat a lower carb diet, with more protein instead from vegetable sources, such as beans, nuts, seeds, soya, all foods associated with lowering cholesterol and cancer risk? A study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows excellent results.
Headed by Professor David Jenkins, who invented the Glycemic Index (GI) as a way of measuring which foods raise your blood sugar level, this study gave two groups of people a reduced calorie diet – one with a low amount of carbohydrates (with low GI ratings), high protein and fat, but from vegetable sources; the other with higher carbohydrates, lower fat and protein. Both groups lost nearly 9lbs (8.8lbs) in the four weeks, but those on the low-carb diet had greater reductions in their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels.
This diet, nicknamed the ‘eco-Atkins’ diet is a state-of-the art low GL (glycemic load) diet, designed more to even out blood sugar levels rather than to cut fat, because the body turns peaks in blood sugar levels rapidly into fat. This approach flies in the face of conventional dieting advice to cut your fat intake to under 20% of calories. This diet provided double this - roughly 40% of calories from fat and 30% from protein. It’s very close to the Holford Low GL Diet which provides 25% of calories from fat and 25% from mainly vegetable protein, with some fish. Dr Jenkins and colleagues also gave the right kind of carbohydrates with more foods high in soluble fibres, such as oats instead of wheat, and plenty of vegetables including aubergine and okra, again excellent sources of soluble fibres. Also, the diet included seeds, nuts and beans, excellent high protein foods that are known to lower cholesterol and provide plenty of minerals. These kind of low GL diets, based on wholefoods, not fake foods, is the perfect diet for losing weight and lowering cholesterol. My only criticism of this diet approach is the lack of omega 3 fats, so abundant in oily fish, which are also known to reduce cardiovascular disease risk.This is yet another piece of evidence that low GL diets are the way to go, not low fat diets.
If you’d like to find out more about how to follow a low GL diet visit www.holforddiet.com.
i understand that red grapes are very healthy . are black grapes equally healthy or more or less healthy?
Posted by Jacqueline Graf on 06/14 at 08:41 AM
I don’t have a definitive answer on this but my thinking is that the blacker (or bluer/purplier) the grape the more anthocyanidins and reseveratrol it is likely to contain. Most red wine is made from what one might call ‘black’ grapes. The dark the red the more the benefit. Concord grapes, used for grape juice, have been shown to be higher in antioxidant potential. Black grapes, used for wine, may also be less sweet. As good as black grapes/red grapes are for antioxidants they do also contain high GI sugars.
Posted by patrick on 06/14 at 09:20 AM
I eat pretty much as this article suggests, am vegetarian, getting all my protein from lentils, beans, etc, and have no diary. I was shocked therefore to learn that my cholesterol is 7.2. My GP reckons that the causes for this are entirely hereditary, and has prescribed statins. As yet I have not taken them, as I always try to take the natural route where possible. I’ve started taking Solgar’s No Flush Niacin 500g and CoQ-10, which seemed to be the only gaps in what I had otherwise been supplementing. Do you think I can crack it via diet and supplements, or would I be better advised to take the statins?
Posted by Christine Livingston on 07/01 at 08:26 PM
Niacin does actually work better than statins at lowering cholesterol and, perhaps more importantly, raising HDL. You need to take between 1,000mg and 2,000mg a day. You can also get this on prescription as Niaspan. I’d suggest you tell your doctor you’d prefer to use this a) because it is more effective and b) because it has less side-effects.
On the diet front the most important is to eat a low GL diet with plenty of soluble fibre (oats) and phytosterols (beans, lentils, seeds). I suggest you strictly follow my low GL diet for 2 months then retest. Also check your homocysteine level. You can get a home test kit from http://www.yorktest.com. Remember, the most critical statistic is your cholesterol/HDL ratio. You want this below 3. For example, if you bring your cholesterol below 6 and raise HDL to 2 (6/2=3) then your risk of cardiovascular disease is not high.
Posted by patrick on 07/02 at 05:31 AM
Thanks for coming back to me on this, Patrick. I’m following the low GL diet and have ordered a homocysteine test as you suggest. I’ve also made an appointment with my GP to try to get Niaspan, however on researching this see that a common side effect is flushing. Is that the case in your experience? And is Niaspan more or less effective than the niacin I could get from the health food shop?
Also, I’ve read that red rice yeast is another good supplement for high cholesterol. However, articles suggest that it can have similar side effects to statins. Also that, if combined with niacin, can cause muscle problems. Do you know anything about this?
Posted by Christine Livingston on 07/11 at 11:07 AM
You need at least 1,000mg of niacin. If you take 500mg twice a day with food the blushing soon stops.You can get no-blush niacin (inositol hexanicotinate)from the health food store. There haven’t been definite studies on this re cholesterol lowering - no patent, no money. Niaspan is fine. There’s a new prescription ‘drug’ soon to be launched called Tredaptive. it combnies niacin with laropripant which effectively stops the blushing. I prefer these to red rice yeast - and the evidence is stronger. BioCare’s No Blush Niacin,contains inositol hexanicotinate, magnesium and vitamin C (http://www.totallynourish.com). I’d be interested to know what you find works best.
Posted by patrick on 07/11 at 05:50 PM
Thanks, Patrick. I’m going to go with the Niaspan to begin with, and try that alongside the low GL diet. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!
Posted by Christine Livingston on 07/12 at 12:31 PM
Is it possible to change from taking a statin to Niaspan? My dad currently takes a huge dosage statin and I am trying to get him to stop. He has already had a huge stroke despite taking statins (amongst other drugs) for years.
Posted by Craig Lee on 08/27 at 02:07 PM
Niaspan appears to work better in all respects - lowers total cholesterol, raises HDL fraction, has minimal side-effects - so there’s no reson not to switch. His dose statin without coQ10 is a very bad idea. The evidence for stroke risk reduction is much less than that for heart attack. Homocysteine levels are much better predictors of stroke risk. Too low cholesterol is also a predictor of stroke risk so aggressive cholesterol lowering is not good either. Dr Malcolm Kendrick makes thsi clear in his book The Cholesterol Con.
Posted by patrick on 08/28 at 04:03 AM
Thanks Patrick - was just worried about getting him off the Statin and whether there would be any adverse affects - as you can imagine, Doctors are resistant to the proposed changes and the combination of drugs is causing some terrible side affects such as pain etc. Now have to work on the other drugs he is on. He does take a CoQ10 tablet with the statin. Thank you.
Posted by Craig Lee on 08/28 at 05:55 AM
